Boys’ lacrosse: La Salle tops St. Joseph’s Prep, 11-4, gets some revenge for loss in 2011 title game

Matt Rambo collected five goals and two assists to lead host La Salle to an 11-4 conquest of arch-rival St. Joseph’s Prep today in a Catholic League battle of perennial powers.

The victory was a sweet one for La Salle, which still had a sour taste in their mouths after losing to Prep in last year’s PCL championship game.

“It’s like a revenge thing for us, since they beat us in the PCL’s last year, but it’s nothing too big,” said Rambo. “We just beat them in the regular season, so we get to go home and celebrate for an hour or two.

“But tomorrow we’ve got to come back to work and get better since we’ll see them in the championship, no doubt.”

LaSalle (5-3) led from start to finish, jumping out to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on the strength of an Adam Stefanowicz goal followed by Rambo’s first two tallies.

Brian McNamara added two goals and an assist and La Salle was bolstered by the return of junior standout Sean Coleman, who played sparingly in his first game of the year after recovering from a knee injury sustained during the football season.

The youthful Hawks (4-5) did not quit, but they made several costly penalties, lost some possessions due to offsides and were unable to contain the potent La Salle offense.

“They were well prepared, they knew a lot of things we were going to do, and they executed when they were supposed to, and for whatever reason we didn’t,” said a disappointed Eric Gregg, St. Joe’s Prep head coach. “We had a lot of opportunities, in the beginning of the game specifically, and their guys answered the challenge; their goalie played exceptional.”

The final score should not fall squarely on Simon’s shoulders, as Gregg had him playing defense out of the cage for the last two minutes of the game. The Explorers’ last three tallies were scored without a goalie in the cage – one by senior defenseman Casey Eidenshink from about 75 yards out.

NOTES – La Salle next takes on Lansdale Catholic at home on Thursday and then gears for the annual Travis Manion/Brendan Looney Memorial Game Saturday at 2 p.m. at La Salle…. Prep returns home to play Cardinal O’Hara Wednesday.